Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Beyond Beyond; Episode 21

Return to Barbuda

“The
port is
on
the west
side of
the island,” Salty said. “Back
when I was here there was no place to dock. You had to anchor off
shore and use a dinghy to get to land; as near as I
can remember.”

“My
chart shows
a small opening to a lagoon,” Rich said.

“If
I recall that lagoon is very shallow,” Salty said, “and the way
in was very shallow, two or three feet.”

“Take
us around to the west side,” Rich said, “and I’ll get on the
radio and try to reach somebody and see if we can dock someplace.”

Salty
navigated around the west side of the island. Rich
was able to contact a hotel that had a ship to shore radio. They were
told of a place to dock down the coast from the lagoon.

Rich
and Salty sailed along
an
outer reef of Barbuda that formed the lagoon; no
more than 150 yards off shore.

“Look!”
Salty said pointing at a beach. “Have you ever seen
pink sand?”

“That’s
beautiful!” Rich said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“These
islands have a terrible history; Barbuda and Antigua – slavery,”
Salty said. “There was no where to run or hide; escape was
impossible. Why they helped me
as a
white man, I don’t know.”

“Maybe
it was because some may have had white ancestors?” Rich said.

“As
I recall some may have been lighter than others,” Salty said. “But
I just remember them being very black. It’s been so long. Big
smiles. Yes, very big smiles.”

“I
just know you will find people who will remember you,” Rich said.

“Too
many years,” Salty said and added sadly, “too many years.”

“I’m
going to remove the tape on the transom and return this boat to it’s
rightful
name,” Rich said. He leaned
over the stern
and pealed the tape from Cody
Boy
and returned
it Odyssey
again.

They
sailed to a small cape that
suddenly jutted away from the islandof
pink sand and lush green vegetation. Theysailed
around
it.

Rich’s
imagination soured. He had no words to describe the meeting of blue
waters, pink sand, and green foliage. “God
has taken the best of all colors and brought them together right
here,” he said to Salty.

Salty
heard, but he seemed far from Rich. He was in a time many years ago.
He looked beyond the beauty and pressed his memory to recall events
and people. “I thank god for this one last voyage of my life. I
never knew how I’d get here again. If I set out alone, at my age
there would be little chance of making it.”

“That
docking area should be just down the coast,” Rich said.

Salty
continued to sail the shore line.

“Look!”
Salty said. “Now you see white sand; as white as clouds.”

“I’m
surprised you left this place,” Rich said.

“I
was sick,” Salty said. “It must have effected my thinking. I
dream about this place from time to time. And I don’t know if what
I remember is a dream or it really happened. Sometime something will
just pop in my head and I don’t know where it came from. They
say when you get my age that’s not an uncommon thing. Dreams or
memories, don’t know which. Never thought much about it; it could
be nothing more than imagination, but I’ve never been known much
for that.”

“Not
from the stories I’ve heard about you,” Rich said. “The people
down at the boatyard in Rockland said you could come up with ways to
solve problems that engineers never thought about. And who would have
thought with some black and white tape you could change Odyssey
to Cody
Boy?”

“Ahhh,”
Salty said, “some dumb people have special gifts. God gives it to
them because smart people are too busy being smart.”

“You
mean guys like White and Stafford?” Rich said.

“Exactly,”
Salty said.

They
sailed for a few more minutes.

“I
see it,” Salty said. “It looks like the place we can dock.”

A
heap of leveled rocks jutted from the shore forming about 200 foot
pier. A portion had a cement wall where a feathered blue skiff and
yellow skiff bobbed loosely. Three large fuel tanks sat at the tip of
the pier and gave the appearance of some sort of storage facility for
what ever fuel was needed on the island or for boats.

Rich
dropped the sails and the current carried them to the cement wall.
Salty brought The Odyssey broadside and Rich positioned the
mooring fenders. He climbed to the pier and tied a fore and aft line.

“Well
here we are,” Rich said holding out his hand to help Salty ashore.

From Kenton Lewis: You Must Read This First To Know What The Heck Goes On Here

This site contains mostly fiction. Currently a novel is posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday entitled Beyond Beyond. It is broken down into short episodes between two and four pages each. Thus, if you enter on anything other than episode 1, it would be good the scroll down to find previous episodes.

The archives are full of short stories. Some short stories are very short, just one posting. Others are broken down into episodes also.

Every post contains 350 to 1,500 words.

Anyway, I hope you visit several times a week.

In addition, this site is free of promotions and advertising except for the sale of Kenton Lewis books. That's a hint. Otherwise just tuck a $20 bill in an envelop and email me for my address.

This Is He

Taken shortly after my beheading. I refused to give up coffee. "Not from my cold dead hands!"